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Santa Fe, NM
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Bike Audits
Description: Santa Fe's lack of protected bike lanes left older adults and residents without cars navigating unsafe routes, including a highway between apartments and a shopping center. To address this, Bike Santa Fe completed six audits and shared findings with city leaders, influencing a bond-funded redesign and prompting supplemental funding for bike and pedestrian upgrades. Three audited sites are now slated for improvements within two years, and presentations helped officials and residents visualize safer connections for biking and walking.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Brunswick, GA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Bike Audits
Description: Brunswick lacked safe bike routes linking downtown to schools and jobs, leaving residents, many reliant on walking or biking, facing hazards along a key corridor. The group led a two-part audit of 1.3 miles on MLK Jr. Blvd./Altama Ave., documenting obstacles and safety concerns to guide future trail planning. The effort raised visibility and prompted local officials to begin early planning for a multi-use path. One auditor said the process revealed "how the little things add up" for cyclists and pedestrians navigating the area.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Brookfield, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Bike Audits
Description: Cycle Brookfield addressed bicycle safety concerns along several north-south corridors where crashes were concentrated. These concerns created added risk for residents who bike for daily travel, including older adults. The group organized three structured bike audits that brought together volunteers of different ages and abilities to document conditions and identify hazards. Using a standardized audit approach, participants developed specific recommendations such as improved crossings, clearer signage and better connections, then presented those findings to village leaders ahead of planned roadway resurfacing. The project built local capacity by training residents to spot safety issues and contribute meaningfully to transportation decisions. With audit recommendations already under review for upcoming projects, the work is positioned to influence near term street improvements and strengthen ongoing collaboration between Cycle Brookfield and local officials.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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Wake Forest, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Walk Audits
Description: Older residents faced safety and mobility challenges when walking through town, including missing sidewalk connections and obstacles that made short trips less predictable. These gaps limited independence for older adults and others with physical challenges, especially near housing, schools and shopping areas. The Town of Wake Forest addressed the issue by conducting a series of walk audits in different parts of town, starting downtown. Older volunteers documented barriers and identified specific improvements needed to make walking safer and more continuous. Findings were compiled into a presentation for planning staff and elected officials. One audit revealed a sidewalk that stopped short of connecting affordable housing to nearby shops, forcing residents to walk in traffic. That example helped inform discussions tied to the Age-Friendly Action Plan and future decisions about sidewalk connectivity and pedestrian investment.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Raleigh, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: As part of efforts to set up a new community center at a donated house, the City of Oaks Foundation purchased furnishings and equipment to host events onsite. To get the property ready, the Foundation hosted several volunteer days, where community members helped restore trails and clear underbrush onsite. In the months that followed, programming at the Joslin House and Garden ranged from plein air painting, art showings, a nature event featuring live owls and other creatures, a mother-grandmother tea, gardening workshops and a lecture on World Way I history. Project organizers say these events -- and others -- have helped with fundraising efforts as work on the house and surrounding gardens continues. The Foundation estimates more than 400 visitors each year have attended events in the community space, with many others visiting to stroll the property.
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